'Radio Ga Ga' by Queen wrote:So don't become some background noise A backdrop for the girls and boys Who just don't know or just don't care And just complain when you're not there You had your time, you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio - radio.

BackgroundFreddie Mercury (September 5, 1946 – November 24, 1991), born Farrokh Bulsara, was a Parsi-British musician, most famous as the lead singer of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Killer Queen," and "We Are the Champions." He died of bronchopneumonia induced by HIV (AIDS), only a day after going public with an announcement of his illness. His Wikipedia entry is an amzing read, every single album by Queen is epic, and Queen's live performances are the stuff of legend.

Their 1985 appearance at Wembley Arena during Live Aid is... well, I'll just quote TV Tropes: "Freddie Mercury took a hundred thousand people into the palm of his hand and led them to heaven. Their set during the Live Aid event was recently voted the Greatest Live Gig By Any Band EVER, and there have been very few dissenters from this opinion." Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you too can bear witness to the greatest 25 minutes of rock`n`roll ever performed.

Seriously, the Live Aid performance is beyond amazing. Watch the Redio Ga Ga portion if nothing else, Freddie Mercury gets 100,000 people to clap in unison during the refrain... It must be seen to be believed. Even that doesn't really do justice, because of the sheer size of the crowd and the speed of sound being a constant, you can actually see a "wave" passing through the crowd as each row clapped a millisecond later than the one before as the sound reached their ears.

Queen is also responsible for the only good part of Countdown to Final Crisis, when Flash Rogue Pied Piper destroys the planet Apokolips by playing "The Show Must Go On." The power of Queen is so great that a cover of their greatest song can nuke the home of the New Gods.

I'm not sure if J-Mart is still accepting merchandise from outside suppliers, but I thought I'd leave this here anyway.

I'm applying to a game over in the Game Room with Transformers and I'm using your builds as a reference (they're very good). You don't have their vehicle forms listed though, are they listed somewhere else or do you just assume vehicle write ups from the Gadgets section?

Thanks for doing such great work. This isn't the first time I've referenced your material.

The real people thing is cool. If you're still looking for more of them I would recommend Isao Machii (super swordsman), Choi Yeong-eui aka Masutatsu Oyama (super karate guy), Ben Underwood (pretty much Daredevil jr.), or Michel Lotito (eats things like entire airplanes.)

I'm applying to a game over in the Game Room with Transformers and I'm using your builds as a reference (they're very good). You don't have their vehicle forms listed though, are they listed somewhere else or do you just assume vehicle write ups from the Gadgets section?

Thanks for doing such great work. This isn't the first time I've referenced your material.

I just assume general vehicle write ups with their Blast (if they have one) and Toughness remaining the same as their build. I just didn't feel like writing up whole separate builds for that.

I'm glad you are referencing the builds and feel free to use any of these, or the ones at the PC Superstore as needed. Thanks for shopping at J-Mart!

hahah, oh snap, you're totally doing something I thought of a while back (but with more historical figures)- even Bolt & Wadlow were on my To-Do List because they represent the "real world" version of the best stuff ever! Great stuff to see. I too saw the Wadlow/Champion comparison (given that it's comics and one martial artist can beat like ten other men simultaneously, an 8'11" guy who just worked out a lot to not be a cripple isn't that far-fetched), and figured that real Olympic-class Sprinters deserve ranks of Speed. I generally assume that all Olympians are going All-Out/Extra Effort when they do things, too- it's the reason why Bolt deliberately half-assed his qualifying run, so as to not risk injury or burn out too early. That way he just had to run fast enough to win his heat, THEN go all-out for the final race.

It's funny that the legit World's Strongest Man would only be Strength 4, too :). Though comic tosses around "Peak Human" ridiculously often without actually knowing what it means. It's also fun to differentiate an ACTUAL OLYMPIAN from what comics thinks is "Olympic Athlete" (ie. Olympians are specialized unless they're decathletes; in comics everyone alive is actually great at all athletic events).

She might make the list. I've only got one more build in this run done. and it's not really a "super" so to speak, just someone I like.

Still, she's really only a Strength 2, with maybe a rank of Super Strength to push her to 3. And even that seems like a stretch. That's the crazy thing about the Strength ranks for normal humans as Jab noted. Guys like Mark Henry and even the strongest guys in the world are Strength 4. I like that 3E simplified Strength and Super Strength but that doesn't give much wiggle room for "normal" humans.

Pretty much every NFL lineman, most linebackers, tight ends and fullbacks would be a 3, but I guess you could separate them with with ranks of Athletics.

Thorpacolypse wrote:Still, she's really only a Strength 2, with maybe a rank of Super Strength to push her to 3. And even that seems like a stretch. That's the crazy thing about the Strength ranks for normal humans as Jab noted. Guys like Mark Henry and even the strongest guys in the world are Strength 4. I like that 3E simplified Strength and Super Strength but that doesn't give much wiggle room for "normal" humans.

Pretty much every NFL lineman, most linebackers, tight ends and fullbacks would be a 3, but I guess you could separate them with with ranks of Athletics.

These Olympian-class athletes may also have a rank or two of Luck, allowing them all the wonderful benefits of Hero Points. That could easily make the difference between a championship medal and going home empty-handed.

Oh, yeah, they're also Heroic Player Characters! Not Minion NPCs! The only thing that guarantees you a bigger boost in power is having your name in the title of the comic book/tv show!

She might make the list. I've only got one more build in this run done. and it's not really a "super" so to speak, just someone I like.

Still, she's really only a Strength 2, with maybe a rank of Super Strength to push her to 3. And even that seems like a stretch. That's the crazy thing about the Strength ranks for normal humans as Jab noted. Guys like Mark Henry and even the strongest guys in the world are Strength 4. I like that 3E simplified Strength and Super Strength but that doesn't give much wiggle room for "normal" humans.

Pretty much every NFL lineman, most linebackers, tight ends and fullbacks would be a 3, but I guess you could separate them with with ranks of Athletics.

This is why I think that 3E strength rules have some wrong in them, they still list STR 6/7 as peak human, but the lifting power allowed is much greater than what it should be. Personally I think that if I'm ever going to work with the next edition I will completly rewrite that table.

Woodclaw wrote:This is why I think that 3E strength rules have some wrong in them, they still list STR 6/7 as peak human, but the lifting power allowed is much greater than what it should be. Personally I think that if I'm ever going to work with the next edition I will completly rewrite that table.

Respectfully, I don't think the problem is the progression chart, so much as the comic books that M&M3e is trying to replicate still holding onto a Silver Age understanding of what "peak human" means. In much the same way that comic book "radiation" follows no known laws of physics (it can give you superpowers, not cancer; and it always glows) athleticism and intellectual prowess in comics have... implausible effectiveness.

In the real world some martial arts masters and le parkour experts can pull off stunts that seem impossible, such as punching through bricks and falling from great heights without injury. Some gymnasts can score 9.0's or 10.0's in nearly every discipline. Some marksman can hit a target a mile or more away with a rifle. Some quickdraw experts can score three bull's eyes in 5 seconds from a holster. Some mathematicians can perform differential calculus in the heads. Some polyglots speak dozens of languages. Some chessmasters can play dozens of perfect games at once...

But in comic-book land, a "peak" athlete can do all of those physical stunts... not just excel in one area of endeavor. A person of "peak" intellect can do all those mental feats with ease. A comic book character with both a "peak" mind and body -- like Batman -- can do all of the above.

Strength 4 on the Progression Chart is strong enough to lift 800 lbs. casually... The current Olympic record for weightlifting goes to Hossein Rezazadeh's clean & jerk of 263 kg (~580 lbs.) This is a guy who at age 34 has, essentially, done nothing but pick up heavy things his entire life... In the world of comic books, Mr. Rezazadeh would also have had time to become an expert martial artist, gymnast, stage magician, actor, and the world's finest detective while simultaneously running a multi-billion dollar business enterprise. Uh-huh.

Then too, one has to consider the effect of "Popularity Power" on comic book characters. In 1938, the Batman was just a damn good athlete and expert detective; by 1988 he was a potential Gold Medalist in every Olympic sport ever and the greatest detective short of Sherlock Holmes; in 2008, he was the goddamn Batman was basically every Chuck Norris meme squeezed into a cowl. Wolverine has gone from being a short, musclebound brawler to the Marvel Universe's greatest ninja-samurai-soldier-superspy-tracker-lover-teacher in only about twenty years. Why? Because the fans think so...

COMPLICATIONS:Enemy: The Red Skull, Grand Director, Hate Monger, Batroc The LeaperMan out of Time: Steve still sometimes has problems coping in the new millenniumPatriotism: Next to Uncle Sam, he's the closest thing to living embodiment of American Patriotism in the worldPower Loss: If Cap misses his target badly, an opponent catches his shield, etc. he will have to retrieve it, losing it’s powers and advantagesRelationships: Sharon Carter, The Falcon, Iron Man, Thor, Bucky and Superman are among his closest friends and he and Sharon are in a romantic relationship at the moment. He is also close with the original Avengers and sometimes, Nick FuryResponsibility: He feels a strong sense of responsibility for his country and fellow super heroes

Updated Steve a little bit while adding that Immunity to Dodge and Parry mechanic for The Shield that I am jealous that I did not think of first.

That is a cool mechanic. One question though, how would you include immunity to area line attacks, area attacks which radiate out from a point, or using the shield to protect from falling damage? I'm thinking an extra effort alternate effect switching in an Immunity 80 (Toughness attacks) but with a slightly different set of limitations. But I'd like someone else's opinion.

Earth-Two_Kenn wrote:That is a cool mechanic. One question though, how would you include immunity to area line attacks, area attacks which radiate out from a point, or using the shield to protect from falling damage? I'm thinking an extra effort alternate effect switching in an Immunity 80 (Toughness attacks) but with a slightly different set of limitations. But I'd like someone else's opinion.

Perhaps Distracting? Captain America needs to "stand his ground" or otherwise greatly reduce his mobility, thus becomeing Vulnerable? It's easier to hit a static target, but next to impossible to hurt him when he "turtles up."

COMPLICATIONS:b]Doing Good:[/b] Ernie doesn't worry about money, he just wants to help people and animals, especially turtlesEnemy: TechnologyFame: Lots of people know The Turtleman now, which sometimes is good, sometimes is badRelationships: He has two daughters that live with his ex-wife that he loves dearly

All hail Ernie Brown, the hysterical Turtleman from the hit Animal Planet series Call of The Wildman. Ernie hails from the backwoods of Kentucky, and he’s as backwoods as they get. He got his nickname from learning to catch turtles to help feed his impoverished family when he was a kid and he caught his first snapping turtle at age 7. He led a fairly normal rural life until his wife left him, taking their two daughters with her. He then moved out in the woods, didn’t talk to no one for about 6 months, really got into the land and the animals, and really became the Turtleman. One of his turtle captures got posted on YouTube, it went viral, Animal Planet got wind of it, came out to meet him, loved him and rest is history in progress.

And I tried my damnedest not to like that show, I really did. But Ernie is so real and so goofy, you gotta love it. The best thing is that he charges practically nothing for his jobs, and even has taken trades as he fee, like the one time he got a snapping turtle out of a pond at golf course and his payment was a free round of golf for he and his buddies. And he got a family of skunks out of a trailer park, which was really nasty business and he charged them $60 got some cupcakes. To put that in perspective, I had a bird that build a nest in my dryer vent and I got quoted $180 for removal from a regular exterminator. Crazy.

His buddy Neal James makes me laugh, too, as he goes out on all the calls with Ernie, but his job is mainly to provide redneck one liners and put the critters in the bag once Ernie does all the work in catching them. I had to add Lolly, too, since she’s a good, if only moderately helpful, dog. It’s good stuff.